Majority of Americans consider football 'America's sport' in new poll

53% of U.S. adults ranked football as America's sport compared to 27% who said baseball

49ers, Chiefs prepare for Super Bowl rematch

Fox Sports NFL insider Jay Glazer previews Super Bowl LVIII as the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers prepare for a rematch and shares his discovery in ADHD medicine.

Football has overtaken baseball as "America’s sport" by a wide margin, according to a new poll ahead of Super Bowl LVIII.

The Pew Research Center released the results of a new study on Monday that asked approximately 12,000 U.S. adults "if you had to choose one sport as being ‘America’s sport,’ even if you don’t personally follow it, which sport would it be?" A majority of those polled, 53%, responded with "football."

"More than half of Americans (53%) say America’s sport is football – about twice the share who say it’s baseball (27%). Much smaller shares choose one of the other four sports we asked about: basketball (8%), soccer (3%), auto racing (3%) or hockey (1%)," the survey read.

SUPER BOWL LVIII: WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE GAME

Football on field

Nearly twice as many Americans ranked football as America's sport over baseball. (Getty Images)

Football remained the top response across all demographic groups, including White, Black, Hispanic and Asian Americans. Men and women across all age groups also agreed that football is "America’s sport."

However, racial groups were divided among what other sports they would consider. White Americans were more likely to answer baseball, while Black and Asian Americans said basketball and Hispanic Americans were more likely to respond with soccer.

Although a majority ranked football as "America’s sport," people also admitted that they largely do not pay close attention to sports.

CRITICS RAIL AGAINST BIDEN FOR MISSING SUPER BOWL INTERVIEW TWO YEARS IN A ROW: 'WHY THE HELL NOT?'

National anthem at Allegiant Stadium

An American flag is displayed on the field as Sheila E. performs the national anthem before a game between the New England Patriots and the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium on October 15, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada.  (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

"Most U.S. adults (62%) say they follow professional or college sports not too or not at all closely, and a similar share (63%) say they talk about sports with other people just a few times a month or less often, according to the Center’s August survey. In fact, only 7% of adults are what might be called sports ‘superfans’ – people who follow sports extremely or very closely and talk about sports with other people at least every day," the survey read.

The poll was conducted in August 2023.

The U.S. flag at a football game

Despite people viewing football as "America's sport," most do not follow sports closely. (Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/East Bay Times via Getty Images)

Regardless of how closely people follow the football season, the Super Bowl remains one of the most top-watched events of the year. In 2023, Fox Sports reported that an average of 113 million people watched Super Bowl LVII on FOX, the largest audience since 2017.

Lindsay Kornick is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and on Twitter: @lmkornick.

Authored by Lindsay Kornick via FoxNews February 7th 2024